After several days of rhetorical flailing, Ben Carson, a physician running for the Republican Party nomination for US president, finally settled on his rationalisation for opposing a Muslim American president. Having first said that he “absolutely would not agree” with the prospect, Mr Carson explained that what he is actually opposed to is theocracy. “If you’re a Christian and you’re running for president and you want to make this into a theocracy, I’m not going to support you,” he insisted.
Mr Carson now claims his stigmatising of Muslims as uniquely ineligible for chief executive was a boilerplate defence of political secularism that would be embraced by an overwhelming majority of Americans. Had he simply taken a clear stance against theocracy from the outset, there would have been no controversy. Almost no one in the US favours establishing a theocracy, and Mr Carson’s opposition to that is about as unobjectionable as anything in American political culture.
Indeed, Article VI of the constitution as originally drafted stated that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States”. Some of its opponents at the time openly fretted that, because of this clause, “Mahometans might obtain offices among us, and that the senators and representatives might all be pagans”, or that it might “open a door for Jews, Turks and infidels”. Nonetheless, the US constitution was ratified and Article VI has never been challenged, either legally or politically. At least in theory.
In practice, of course, all American presidents to date, with one exception, have been Protestant Christians (and all, again with one exception, have been white males). When John F Kennedy was running for the presidency in 1960, he had to overcome the same kind of vicious anti-Catholic bigotry that helped sink the 1928 Democratic nominee, Al Smith.
Both Smith and Kennedy were the target of dark insinuations, and sometimes overt accusations, that a Catholic could not be trusted to make decisions as president from an independent, American point of view. They would always be subordinate to the church, the clergy and, particularly, the Pope. Any real Catholic, true to his religion, the bigots argued, would have no choice but to defer to the divinely ordained authorities they follow as a matter of faith.
To be a good American, or at least a good American president, this pseudo-logic held, required one to be a bad Catholic. A Catholic president would have to choose between his country and his church. They would at least govern theocratically, if not directly try to impose a theocracy.
Smith let the issue linger too long, and addressed it ineffectively. Anti-Catholic bigotry was so strong that there is no doubt his religious affiliation significantly contributed to his overwhelming defeat at the hands of Herbert Hoover. Kennedy, by contrast, tackled the issue directly and convinced the public that his religious identity would not influence his decision-making as the president of a secular republic “that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish”.
Mr Carson’s remarks spring from a now-familiar Islamophobic discourse that suggests that Muslims, similarly, cannot have an independent political identity or agenda and must be driven entirely by religious motivations. This discourse is based on a caricature of mainstream Islam which holds, among other things – as both Mr Carson and his senior campaign officials have recently insisted – that Islam commands that all people of other faiths must be killed and that lying is a religious duty.
The essential claim, previously levelled routinely at Catholics and Jews, is that one can be either a bad Muslim and a good American, or a good Muslim and a bad American, but not a good American and a good Muslim. Ironically, Mr Carson’s intolerant outburst has been supported by a small group of prominent Catholic Americans like Pat Buchanan and Bill O’Reilly.
Moreover, if there is a genuine constituency in the United States that actually yearns for the creation of a theocracy, it’s not among Muslim Americans. It’s on the Republican Christian religious right, exactly where Mr Carson has his own political base. “Christian Dominionists”, as they are called by their advocates seek an America governed exclusively by Christians ruling according to religious law, and are a small but significant, and apparently growing, factor in the Republican Party.
Mr Carson himself appears to hold some suggestive religious views. He condemns scientific discoveries about the Big Bang and evolution, implying they are “satanic” in origin. He recently, and indefensibly, characterised the United States as “a Judeo-Christian nation”, whatever that might be. That comment alone brings him perilously close to his own standard for ineligibility.
Almost all Americans, undoubtedly including a large majority of Muslim Americans, would agree that anyone seeking to replace the constitution with a theocracy is unfit to be president. Mr Carson may not be a full-blown Christian Dominionist, but he’s far too close for the comfort of anyone who truly values government that is neutral on religious matters. His anti-Muslim bigotry alone hardly promises neutrality. If Mr Carson’s argument undermine anyone’s candidacy, it's surely his own.
Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
On Twitter: @ibishblog
The%20specs
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
RESULT
Australia 3 (0) Honduras 1 (0)
Australia: Jedinak (53', 72' pen, 85' pen)
Honduras: Elis (90 4)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')
Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')
Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20profile
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
MATCH INFO
Mumbai Indians 186-6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 183-5 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians won by three runs
French Touch
Carla Bruni
(Verve)
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.